There”™s a certain amount of peer pressure young boys in America face growing up; being able to throw a ball, catch a ball, kick a ball.
Add a hockey stick and puck and the pressure gets turned up.
Now multiply that pressure if you find yourself growing up in Canada, a country known to be, well, a bit crazy for hockey. Multiply it again if you find yourself in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, home to the National Hockey League”™s Vancouver Canucks.
Bill McGuinness wasn”™t born with a hockey stick in his hand like some of his childhood pals. But in the city of Surrey, if you didn”™t play hockey, you had better have had a good explanation. So it was only natural that at age 8 McGuinness stepped onto an ice rink and began learning the sport. He learned it well, so well that some 40 years later he”™s still playing it.
McGuinness attended the University of British Columbia where he earned a bachelor”™s degree in architecture. He smiles when asked if he played hockey for the college team. No, he says, he wasn”™t of the same caliber as the players on the UBC team, whose alumni have gone on to careers in the NHL and professional teams in Canada. “I”™m one of millions of hockey players. I was never bound for the pros.”
After college, McGuinness worked as an architect and in real estate development for Polygon Homes and Intrawest U.L.C., which manages ski resorts throughout North America. Ten years ago, he joined Toll Brothers home builders, leaving Vancouver for Mount Kisco. Looking to make friends in his new hometown, McGuinness did what any Canadian would do; he turned to the Yellow Pages and looked up ice rinks in the area.
His method was sort of like an algebraic equation: 3 represents ice rinks plus x represents number of hockey teams and future friends. He joined the Jaguars in Division 1 of the New York/Westchester league of Hockey North America. He remains with them, playing center. They are currently in first place. The team is made up of a cross-section of men who work in various jobs. But on the ice, they”™re united as a team, McGuinness said.
“It”™s a band of friends.” With no coach, it”™s truly egalitarian, he says. There are no favorites; everyone gets an equal amount of ice time.
One of the pluses of the recreation league is that there”™s no body checking, but that doesn”™t mean that the games can”™t get a little rough as when his team takes on younger players such as the KGB. McGuinness defends his sport, which has taken its share of hits over rough play, as one that is less rough than football or basketball. Hockey is a graceful fluid sport that does little to a player”™s joints. Bones and skin are another story. McGuinness over the years has had more than 100 stitches to his face to reduce the scarring that can occur if the cuts are not taken care of. He was told early on as a player that any cuts to the face should be stitched, because if you let it go a scar develops that is only exacerbated by shaving. And yes, he has sustained other injuries, from a broken collarbone to broken ribs and teeth and even a torn thumbnail. But injuries aside, he stresses that there is little impact if played right.
He enjoys it so much that he also plays on another team, the Short Bus, which plays at the Brewster Ice Arena.
When he”™s not on the ice, he”™s in his office in Pawling. About three years ago he started his own company, Sun Homes, an architectural and development company. His current project is Palmer Hill, a private community on the Greenwich-Stamford border that features 81 condominium homes and 114 townhouses.
Even in his business, McGuinness can”™t get away from hockey. A partner in his company is Don Salomon, who happens to be the dentist for the New York Rangers. And while he keeps memorabilia to a minimum in his Pawling office, he does have a hockey puck that was used in a Canucks game and features the 1970s era rink and stick logo the team once used.
As for his own two boys, ages 7 and 5, McGuinness got both of them up on skates when they were 4 years old.
And as for recreational skating for himself, McGuinness gives that amazed don”™t-you-know look as he says, “Skating is a way to play hockey.”
